FREDERICTON, New Brunswick – The gruesome evidence from a bloody double murder was introduced for the second time in a New Brunswick courtroom Monday as a new trial began for a man accused of killing his elderly neighbors.

Blood swabs, stained clothing, references to a headless corpse and a lethal assortment of weapons – including a sword and chain saw – all became part of the record once again as the second trial began for Gregory Allen Despres.

The slight 25-year-old was quiet throughout the opening procedures, speaking only when asked to enter a plea to the charges of killing Fred Fulton, 74, and Verna Decarie, 70, in their Minto home sometime between April 23 and 24, 2005.

Despres, now with a bushy goatee, stood at attention and clearly answered “not guilty” to two charges of first-degree murder.

The first trial for Despres ended in April after he was found mentally unfit.

A provincial review board ruled in July that Despres had responded well to treatment for paranoid schizophrenia and now understands the court proceedings.

Fulton and Decarie were stabbed numerous times and Fulton was decapitated.

Crown prosecutors opened their case against Despres with a recap of the evidence.

Among other things, prosecutor Paul Hawkins told Justice William Grant that a considerable amount of evidence was gathered when Despres crossed the border into the United States at Calais, Maine, on April 25, just hours after the murders had taken place.

“He tells one person at the border crossing: ‘I’m an assassin and I just finished a job up in Canada,”‘ Hawkins told the Court of Queen’s Bench judge, who is presiding over the case without a jury.

Hawkins said U.S. border officials believed they were obligated to let Despres into the country because he held dual Canadian and U.S. citizenship and had a valid U.S. passport.

However, they confiscated an assortment of items from Despres, including a sword, a hatchet, a knife, a large chain saw, brass knuckles and a spray can.

Despres was arrested in Massachusetts the next day.

On Monday, the courtroom was packed with spectators, including many relatives of the victims – a popular couple in the rural village of Minto, known for their love of music.

Mike Richardson, Fulton’s nephew, said it would be tough for the relatives to sit through another trial.

“It’s going to bring back what they went through that night,” Richardson said. “It wasn’t pretty.”

Richardson said relatives would be in the courtroom every day of the trial to make sure the victims are not forgotten.

“We’re here for Fred and Verna,” he said. “They were good people and they didn’t deserve to die the way they did.”

Hawkins said a key piece of evidence would be a pair of pants discarded in St. Stephen the morning of April 25, 2005, by an individual matching Despres’ description. St. Stephen is on the Canadian side of the border, across from Calais.

He said the pants were stained with Fulton’s and Decarie’s blood, and also had biological material on them matching Despres’ DNA.

The Crown’s first witnesses were Sgt. Benoit Sirois and Constable Warren Vogan of the RCMP, who testified about the seizure and preservation of evidence during the course of the investigation. Vogan introduced several items, including blood swabs from the crime scene, the weapons seized at the U.S. border crossing and the clothing seized from Despres upon his arrest.

The trial is scheduled to last three weeks.

Hawkins said some of the testimony from prosecution witnesses would be reintroduced through transcripts and affidavits from the first trial, which should help speed up proceedings.